A Special Gift
by Black Ladybug
Summary: Joker has a gift, of sorts, for Harley. When she finds out it is a beaten/broken Nightwing... She has a moral crisis and has to choose between pleasing joker and killing the pretty bird or setting him free.


I got some great responses for the last one I posted so here's a new one.

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Harley bounced into Jokers office with a grin. "You called for me, Puddin?"

He looked up from the papers strewn across the desk. "Ah, yes! Harley, dear." He smiled widely at her; opening his arms and walking out from around the desk, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Today is a special day, my dear."

She smiled at him, "does that mean you remembered?" She bit her lip in anticipation.

He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side, staring at her quizzically. "What? Yes, of course.. I remember." He turned away from her and rubbed his gloved hands together. He had no idea what she was talking about, but when did she ever really make any sense to him anyway.

Harley folded her arms over her chest, popped a hip out and tapped her other foot. "Then what is today?"

He turned and frowned at her. "It's irrelevant what today is. I got you something. Isn't that what's important?"

She sighed. She knew she shouldn't have expected him to remember. "What did you get me?" She trailed a little, trying to hide her disappointment.

He clapped his hands together and laughed, "That's my girl!" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her out of the office and down the hall. He stopped at a closed corner office, turning Harley to face him. "Behind this door." He grinned, "be a good girl and do break in your new toy." He stressed the word break.

"Mistah J?" She started as he turned to walk away from her.

"Yes, my dear?" He asked, looking back to her.

She bit her lip and nudged at a dirt spot on the floor with the toe of her shoe. "Thank you."

"Of course! Now have fun." He pat her head and jostled her jester hat slightly.

Harley stared after him as he went back to his office and slammed the door behind him. She sighed and turned the knob, entering the dark room. She heard a muffled voice as she searched the wall for the light switch.

When the lights came on she saw Nightwing beaten bloody and tied to a chair in the centre of the room. His eyes widened as she stood staring at the former boy wonder.

Nightwing stared at Harley as she stood in the doorway; His eyes slowly adjusting to the sudden light in the room. He narrowed his eyes at the confused clown in front of him and struggled to free his hands. It was no use, the ropes were too tight.

She hesitated at the door, hot tears stinging her eyes. Joker had forgotten her again. Seeing Nightwing in front of her proved that.

With a sigh she closed the door behind her and slowly made her way over to the chair. Nightwing growled slightly at her from behind the gag and shifted toward her. "Now calm your feathers!" She snapped. "I had nothing to do with this." She looked him over. His costume was torn on the arm, exposing a small gash on his shoulder. The blood had dried mostly, but was still a little sticky. His lip was cut and swollen and dried blood crusted at his hairline.

He sunk back in the chair and eyed her warily. She reached a slightly shaky hand out and removed his gag. He scrunched his nose and frowned. "Bleh."

With a sigh she tossed the gag down and frowned. "This is not what I was hoping for when he said he had something for me." She shook her head and looked over at the desk by the window. There lay a crowbar, a drill, a pair of pliers and a few other torture implements. She shivered. She was never one for torturing someone like that.

"Then let me go." Nightwing said, his voice a bit horse.

She stomped over in front of him, waving her arms a little, "I can't do that! You were given to me by Mistah J. I can't just.. Let you go. Can't just disrespect my Puddin like that."

He glared up at her. "Your 'Puddin' is an ass."

"Don't you talk about Mistah J like that!" She snapped, folding her arms over her chest.

"Or what? You'll torture me? Please do. Then I won't have to listen to your sad attempt at justifying your abusive relationship." He rolled his eyes and tried to adjust himself in the chair. He winced when the ropes dug into his wrists.

She turned her back to him and tried to hold back the tears threatening her eyes. "My Puddin does love me." She half whispered, trying to convince herself more than Nightwing.

"Right. Yeah. That's why he's making you come torture me. That's real love right there." He scoffed. "I've never seen you outright torture anyone. You don't have the stomach for it."

She turned on him and glared; her blue eyes icy and brimming with tears. "You don't know that."

"Pretty sure I do." He grinned slyly at her and tried to look relaxed and coy. "If not, prove me wrong."

"Maybe I will." She spat and marched over to the table. She grabbed up the crow bar and stalked back to him. She held the crowbar up.

Nightwing tensed himself, knowing he could be very wrong about Harley, but he had a hunch. He watched her shadow on the floor but she stood frozen with the crowbar over her head.

Harley let her arm go limp at her side, dropping the crowbar to the floor. "You're right. I don't have the stomach for it." She let the tears fall freely now as she stepped around and sat on the floor in front of Nightwing.

He stared down at her; there was more to this sad girl than his taunting. "Hey, look, it's nothing to cry over."

"It isn't you, you stupid bird brain." She sniffled. "It isn't even the Bman." She put her head in her hands and stared at the floor between her knees. "It's my birthday." She said softly.

"Ah, so that's why I was packaged up and brought here. I'm a gift. Well, there are worse gifts." He grinned, puffing his chest a little.

She dropped her hands and rested her elbows on her knees. She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes. "He forgot." She told him as she pulled her hood off.

"Oh..." He trailed, feeling a little like an ass.

She tossed the hood aside and ran her hands through her hair. "I thought maybe he remembered." She looked up at him with a sigh. "But seeing you here it's obvious I'm not the one he's thinking about. It's the damn Batman." She looked to her side, anger in her voice and tears running down over her mask.

He inched his chair closer to her, grunting slightly with the pain the ropes caused him. "How do I prove that?"

She looked back at him and scoffed. "I don't get the pleasure he does of killing off you little birds. Why would you be a present for me? No, this is some joke but I don't get the punch line."

"I'm still not understanding."

Letting out a deep sigh she stood and stared down at him. "He has always wanted you gone! All the little Robins. Why would he give you to me? He knows I can't torture someone already beaten." She paced the small office and stopped at one of the large windows. "How could he forget.. Again?"

He craned his neck to look at her. Seeing just her silhouette from the city lights he studied her. "Harley..."

She turned to him and wiped her eyes, her makeup smearing slightly. "What? This isn't my thing. Even you could see it and you see me as nothing more than a criminal!"

He sighed, his body tired and sore from being tied up. "I see you as more than 'just a criminal'."

"Ha!" She spat in reply, hunching her shoulders forward as she paced.

"I do." He twisted his wrists, trying to find some comfort from the restraints. "You were a doctor once. A gymnast. You had so much more going for you than being a henchman." He grunted in pain as his wrist popped.

Harley let out a sigh as she walked around the chair, keeping an eye on Nightwing as she made her way to the table. She picked up a knife and made her way back and faced him. "I'm not just a hired thug. Mistah J does love me." She waved the knife in his face before making her way back behind him. "He just..."

"Forgets your birthday." He finished for her as his wrists fell free from the ropes.

"Yeah..." She trailed, looking down at the ropes on the floor. She set the knife aside and went back to her seat on the floor in front of the chair.

Nightwing rubbed his sore wrists and stared down at her. His legs and hips still tied to the chair. "For what it's worth.. Happy birthday." He said softly, giving her a smile.

She looked up at him, his eyes soft and kind. "Thanks." She smiled sadly at him and resumed looking at the floor. She picked at a loose string on her knee and sighed. "He's going to be upset with me if I let you go." She said absently.

"You're your own person, Harley." He shrugged his shoulders, relaxing his muscles. "You don't have to do his bidding. Honestly, he treats you horribly."

"But I love him…" She started crying again and rested her head on her folded arms.

Nightwing sighed and hung his head, "Well, what do you want me to say?"

She fell back on the floor and stared at the ceiling with a sigh. There was nothing more he could say. "You already said enough." She fought more tears. He was right. She was treated horribly at times.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I kinda figured we'd banter, I'd get free, we'd fight and I would escape. The usual." He shrugged, frowning slightly at her.

She let out another sigh and nodded. "Alright. Make it look good birdy." She said as she sat up and bared her chin to him. "Just don't bruise up the face too much."

His shoulders slumped as he sat staring at her. "I'm not going to just hit you." He had freed his legs from the chair and stood over her, extending a hand to her. She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. "We can sneak out and I can treat you to some ice cream or cake. I know that isn't much but it's better than sitting around here, right?"

She looked over her shoulder at the office door. "I think it's better if you just go." She looked back at him and smiled sadly. "But thanks for the offer." She stepped around him for the knife she had used to cut him free; taking it in her off hand she pushed him toward the windows with the other. "Just go. Maybe you can make it up to me later."

"You can come with me." He said, stepping onto the windowsill.

"He'd find me. It's better this way." She took the knife and cut her shoulder open. She hissed through her teeth with the pain and looked over at Nightwing as he stared at her, sadness in his eyes. "Go. I'll make it look like I put up a fight."

He nodded slowly, taking his escrima sticks and firing a grappling hook at a nearby rooftop. He gave her one last look before jumping from the window.

A tear streaked down Harley's cheek as she watched him leave. She screamed in anger and flipped the table of tools. Throwing the knife at the wall; she let out another cry. She took out her anger on the room making it look like a fight broke out. When she had exhausted herself she let out a scream and fell to the floor, breathing hard and just stared at the ceiling.

Joker came rushing into the room and surveyed the mess. "Where's Nightwing?!" He demanded, staring at Harley. He stomped about the room scowling down at her. "What happened?!" He screamed.

She coughed and turned her head toward him. "He escaped." She said, a breath hitching in her throat.

"I give you one job and you failed! What am I going to do with you?" He asked, crouching next to her. He poked at the cut she had made on her shoulder and sighed. "Go get cleaned up. I guess I'll just have to do it myself next time." With that he sighed and stormed out of the room.

She sighed with relief and pulled herself off the floor after catching her breath. She stumbled her way down the hallway and poked her head into Jokers office. "I'm sorry Puddin."

He looked up from his desk. "What? Oh, that." He shrugged a little. "No matter. We'll just try again tomorrow!" He laughed loudly.

She backed out of the office nervously. He was taking this far too well. "O—okay Puddin. Do you need me for anything else?"

"No," He waved her away. "Go get cleaned up and come back tomorrow." She hurriedly left, closing the door behind her. She made her way back to her apartment and showered, cleaning her wounds.

When she finished her shower she wrapped a towel around herself and bandaged her shoulder. Drying her hair she walked through her apartment to her bed and saw something on her bedside table. She hesitantly walked over to examine the small pink package. She picked up the small white card attached and opened it. It read:

 _I know it isn't much,_

 _Thank you for tonight._

 _Happy birthday_

 _-N_

She smiled a little and opened the small box. Inside was a chocolate cupcake with red icing. She took the cupcake from the box and smiled, tasting the icing.

Nightwing smiled from the shadows, watching her take the cupcake. He dove off the fire escape and caught himself, flipping gracefully to the ground. He got on his motorcycle and smiled back up at her building. "Just wish I could do more for you." He muttered as he drove off.

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Please let me know what you think.


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